Hi, and welcome to your Daily Mindfulness.

Today, I'm going to explore the value of

dealing with just one arising at a time.

So it's been said that a problem

is like a pool of muddy water.

The more you stir it around,

the cloudier it gets.

You know, and there's

a lot of truth to that.

Now how many times have you tossed

and turned at night, ruminating

about a difficulty in your life only

to wake up the next day, feeling

more agitated, tired and stressed?

How many times have you had, you

know, a difficult conversation with

someone in a short conversation,

but only to just replay that over

and over again, for days, weeks or

months causing anxiety and distress?

And how many times have you not been

fully present at a party or at the dinner

table or at work because just something

is just mentally weighing you down as

you replay the problem again and again?

When it comes to our problems,

most of the time when we are being

troubled by our problems, we don't

actually have any challenge in

front of us in that given moment.

It's all going on in our mind.

You know, the argument that happened

last week, but we're still playing it

over and over, or we're sitting in a,

actually a nice, comfortable, safe place.

Everything's fine, but we're worrying

about all the things that might go wrong

next week, next year, or in 10 years.

So we tend to, you know, stir the

mind again and again, by going

into what happened in the past,

what might happen in the future.

But from the vantage point of

mindfulness, the only thing we ever

really have to deal with is what's

arising right now in this moment.

The rest we just leave it alone.

Really, you only have to deal with the

conflict if it's happening right now.

You only have to deal with the

doubt, the fear, the rejection

that's happening right now.

You only have to deal with a challenge

or a difficult emotion, if there's

something happening, right now.

Something to be done about it right now.

Sometimes we forget, but it pays

to remember, that we only have to

deal with one arising at a time.

Now, of course the mind might think,

you know, but I have to think about

all of this over and over again.

I have to solve it.

I have to plan for it.

I have to get it figured out.

Now yes, there is a truth to the fact that

there may be a small amount of time that

would be really useful to sit down and

constructively think through something.

You know, plan next steps.

But the majority of the time, it's

really not helpful just to keep

tossing it all around in the mind.

All that tends to do is give you

more stress and suffering and

muddy up the waters of the mind.

So today's invitation for practice

is to simply remember that you only

truly have to deal with one arising

at a time and in-between, you can

allow yourself some peace of mind.

As always, thank you for your practice

and your presence here with us.

And let's now settle in

for today's meditation.